Learning to Like Spiders (or at least appreciate them)

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Make A Spider Box

This particular project is especially good for a rainy or snowbound day. It is just creepy enough to interest any bored child — and it gives everyone an opportunity to learn more about house spiders.

To make a spider box, find a cardboard box about 8 to 10 inches deep and wide. Cut off the top flaps so that one side is completely open. Then carefully tape over the bottom seams and any cracks around the edges. Turn the box on its side and, using a knife or the tip of scissors, cut a trap door: Make two parallel cuts 4 or 5 inches apart to make the door’s sides, then cut across the front and leave one edge uncut, to serve as a hinge. Use a nail to poke a few small holes for ventilation in the top, sides and back of the box. Now stretch plastic wrap tightly across the open side of the box and tape the edges of the “window” to the sides. The box is finished. Now all you need is a spider.

In winter, most homes have a resident house spider or two in a corner up near the ceiling, where it’s warm. That’s exactly the sort of harmless, web-spinning spider you want. (Don’t go looking in woodpiles or underneath objects, or you may encounter the sort of spider you don’t want!) Hold a sheet of paper under the spider and use a stick to gently pull the web onto the paper. Usually, the spider will drop down with the web or lower itself on a silken rope to the floor. If it falls to the floor, just put the paper down and let the spider crawl onto it. Then quickly move the paper to the box’s open trap door and shake the spider into the box. Close the door and “lock” it with a piece of tape.

The spider will begin building a new web almost immediately. My sons never tire of watching the process. They also like trying to identify the spider by looking in field guides. And they love to feed their eight-legged friend clothes moths (another form of wildlife all too common in our house) or other small, indoor insects. Spiders seem able to survive without much food. If we can’t find insects, though, we at least drop a moistened cotton ball into the box to provide a water source.

After a couple of weeks of watching, we let the spider go in the crawl space of our basement. Then it’s time to clean out the box (or make a new one) and search for another “pet.”

200 Reasons to Get over Arachnophobia

If spiders give you the creeps, you’re certainly not alone — most humans instinctively associate spiders with spider bites. (Go ahead and admit it: The last time you found an unexplained and itchy red spot, you thought it might be a spider bite.) But if spiders were out to get you, you’d be gotten by now. There are at least 30,000 spider species in the world, and some scientists estimate there are as many as 200,000. Spiders also occupy virtually every sort of habitat — from tropical jungles and arctic tundra to the nooks and crannies of your own abode. The truth of the matter is, in other words, they’re everywhere. Arachnologists estimate that at any given time 100 to 200 spiders live in an average house; about 10,000 spiders live in one acre of typical forest habitat; and between 1.5 and 2.5 million spiders can be found in an acre of grassland!

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